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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697076">Aster, Crash, Menagerie, and Gecko: An Origin Story</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimDrakeIsTotallyCrash/pseuds/TimDrakeIsTotallyCrash'>TimDrakeIsTotallyCrash</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Childhood Friends, Fluff and Humor, I Don't Even Know, I rushed oop, I wrote this for school, I'm Bad At Tagging, Magic, Middle School, No Fandom - Freeform, Original Works are hard to tag, Origins, POV First Person, Spirit Animals, Superheroes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:21:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697076</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimDrakeIsTotallyCrash/pseuds/TimDrakeIsTotallyCrash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"I was falling. I didn’t know what to do so I grabbed onto a root sticking out of the crack. Dangling there, my fear had turned to pain as I held on for my life. My hand was slipping, the alarm was still going off, and no one knew what to do. </p><p>Three fingers were still holding on the root firmly… two… one… My heart dropped as I did.</p><p>“Ouch” I woke up saying, It was all a dream. I had found myself lying on the floor, with my alarm beeping annoyingly."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Taking suggestions for a new title. I know this one is fantastic, but if you can think of a better one, I'm all ears (well...eyes?)</p><p>Beta read by cozypancakes511.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Flying through the air, I couldn’t believe it; my brown hair was flowing in the wind as I passed my neighborhood in a blink of an eye. I heard a scream coming from the local bank. </p><p>As soon as I arrived at the bank, there was a tall man blasting people with a freeze ray. I quickly realized that I needed to help the people. I squinted at the tall man holding the freeze ray and laser beams blasted out of my eyes.<em> I have heat vision too?</em> I knew I needed to retrieve the freeze ray away from the man. I squinted at his hand this time, the man still firmly held onto the ray. </p><p>I flew around the room trying to find a good angle to shoot the man’s hand again. He turned and started to leave the bank slowly, but then he started to run. </p><p>There was an extremely loud alarm going off in the bank. The loud alarm was blaring and the ground shaking. The room cracked in half, people were avoiding the giant crack in the middle of the room. All of the sudden my flight stopped working while I was above the crack. I was falling. I didn’t know what to do so I grabbed onto a root sticking out of the crack. Dangling there, my fear had turned to pain as I held on for my life. My hand was slipping, the alarm was still going off, and no one knew what to do. </p><p>Three fingers were still holding on the root firmly… two… one… My heart dropped as I did.</p><p>“Ouch” I woke up saying, <em> It was all a dream </em>. I had found myself lying on the floor, with my alarm beeping annoyingly. </p><p>I climbed off the floor, my heart still pounding with the intensity of my latest dream.</p><p>I had always wanted to be a superhero when I was younger. My seventh and eighth birthdays had both been Marvel themed; I loved all types of superheroes. Especially the ones who had super speed.</p><p>It was still Thursday, time to ready for school. I picked up my brush to attempt to manage my short, brown hair. My hair had been messy and full of tangles.</p><p>Walking slowly, I arrived at the bathroom. My teeth needed to be brushed as well. I squirted the toothpaste onto the toothbrush, and started to clean my teeth. When I finished, I spat out the toothpaste and headed back to my bedroom.</p><p>I pulled a random shirt out of my drawer to wear for today. I changed into that, some jeans, and my green hooded sweatshirt. </p><p><em> Fifty-four </em> , my clock was telling me. I need to head out the door by seven. I gathered my things together and ate a speedy breakfast. The T.V. was on, with my dad half awake looking at it. “ <em> Have You Seen this Girl? </em> ” was scrolling across the screen, with what I assumed was a picture of the girl. She had blue-gray eyes and long, light brown hair. There was a strange but beautiful necklace around her neck. It had a leather string as the chain with a red stone inside of a little cage like thing. Her height was next to her picture. “ <em> May be seen with glowing eyes,” </em>scrolled across the screen with the question. I looked at it with confusion. </p><p><em> Why would someone have glowing eyes? </em>I asked myself. I was staring at the screen to see the name but I was interrupted.</p><p>“You ready, Clara?” my younger sister, Jess asked, sliding her backpack on her back.</p><p>I looked away from the T.V. “Pretty much,” I answered, “I just need to put my shoes on.” I walked over to the spot where the shoes are and slipped mine on. </p><p>We raced to the bus, stepping over the crunchy, beautiful fall leaves. I, of course, won because I loved to run. It has been my absolute favorite thing to do for a while, besides watching Marvel movies. We passed time by talking about random things. There was nothing else to do besides wait for the bus. </p><p>We waited about eight minutes before the bus came, then we climbed into the bus. It was quite loud on the bus that day. People all had their own conversations, it didn’t look like I was going to be a part of any of them today. I sat down in an empty seat, and took out a pencil and paper to draw with. I was thinking about my dream, so I started to draw a superhero outfit I would wear if I were a superhero. After a little bit, someone sat next to me. </p><p>“Hey, that drawing looks really good!” the young girl who sat next to me exclaimed. She was kind of short, probably a sixth or seventh grader, to be fair I’m not that tall either. Her hair was a light blond with a black headband. She had light blue eyes that complimented her complexion. </p><p>“Thanks, what’s your name?” I asked, waiting eagerly to hear it. I needed to hear the name of the person who complimented my mediocre art skills.</p><p>“Dakota, Dakota Johnson,” she replied.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Some time later we arrived at the school. I didn’t even realize that much time had passed. I was too concentrated on my superhero outfit drawing. It was turning out pretty well. I ended up making it into a chipmunk looking outfit, and didn’t know what superhero I would be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We all piled off the bus, trying to head for the doors to the inside of the school. We headed inside and waited for the go ahead from the teachers watching us. I saw my friend Benjamin Davis, so I walked over to talk to him. He was standing by himself in the eighth grade section of the room in the morning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Ben,” I stood right behind him. He wasn’t listening to me. So I tried again, “Hey, Ben,” I saw that he was wearing earbuds. Ben is constantly listening to music. He knows how to play the piano, guitar, and sings well. He probably loves superheroes as much as I do. He has short brown hair with bluish-green eyes. Other than that he is one of my only friends. I tapped on his shoulder, and he turned around and smiled at me. I grinned back as he took his earbuds out to talk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s up, Clara?” He was putting away his phone and earbuds into his backpack. I was thinking about what to say, when Dakota stood in the eighth grade line. I was kind of confused. I didn’t know she was in eighth grade with us. “Clara?” Ben was trying to catch my attention. I didn’t think I was that distracted though.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, sorry I just sat next to a new girl on the bus. Her name is Dakota Johnson. She is in our grade but I didn’t know that when she sat by me,” I told Ben, who looked a little confused. I guess how I said that was confusing, “That girl with the blonde hair with a black headband,” I pointed over to her, and looked back at Ben to see if he understood now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Cool, maybe we could ask her to hang out with us,” he said while taking my hand and leading me over to talk to her again. I hesitantly walked with him up to Dakota. “Hi, I’m Ben,” he proudly told Dakota, “I’m Clara’s friend. We were wondering if you would like to sit with us at lunch today.” Dakota seemed shy, even though that's the opposite emotion she was showing on the bus this morning. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Umm... yeah, sure, I’ll sit with you guys,” she seemed a bit more confident in saying that, “you probably already know, but my name is Dakota.” Ben nodded, he took my hand again, and led me back to where we were standing before. I leaned against the black bleachers that were folded up, and sighed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben leaned against the bleachers next to me, when the bell rang for us to head to class. The teachers sent us down the hallways to our classes. Ben and I are both in the same class, Mrs Thompson; she is a nice teacher. She lets us listen to music in study hall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I opened my locker, which is covered in different superhero magnets on the inside. “See you in class,” I waved to Ben, because his locker is a little further down the hall. I grabbed all of my books out of my backpack. I also grabbed my pencil pouch and headed for the class. I sat down at my desk and set out my assignments for the day. Ben walked in and sat down behind me.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Benjamin Davis,” Mrs Thompson announced as she started attendance. Ben raised his hand and the teacher read the next name, “Clara Grayson,” I raised my hand at the sound of my name and Mrs Thompson carried on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After we did attendance, lunch account, and the pledge. It was time to go to the gym for P.E.. We ran in the gym today. Boys and girls were split up. Girls were on the inside walking first, boys were running on the outside first. We traded every two minutes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We walked back to our class, and did half our classes till 11:40, then it was time for lunch. Ben and I grabbed our lunches and walked down to the cafeteria together. We sat at one of the tables, and waited for Dakota to sit down with us. While we waited for her we talked about superheroes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dakota spotted us and started heading our way. When she stood next to our table she interrupted our conversation, “Wait, you guys like superheroes too?” It was like destiny we had all found each other. Superheroes brought Ben and I together, now it would lead us to be friends with Dakota. She sat down and we continued our conversation, this time with Dakota. We finished our lunches. It was time to head back to class.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That had been a great day. I didn’t know I would make a new friend just like that. Normally making friends is a little hard, I don’t want to talk too much or talk about something someone doesn’t want to talk about. I have had a very little amount of friends, some of them are not even my friends anymore. People come and go but Ben has been my friend for some time now. I think Dakota is going to be a great friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I sat by Dakota on the bus again in the afternoon, and we couldn’t stop talking to each other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was my stop next, so I put my backpack on, “See you tomorrow,” I concluded the conversation. Dakota waved, and I walked back to my house with Jess.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>Today is going to be another great day! It’s also a Friday, nothing ever goes wrong on a Friday.</span>
  </em>
  <span> I told myself right as I woke up. I was ready for the day and walked down to the bus stop. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bus came and Jess and I climbed on. I sat down in a spot with no one in it, so Dakota could sit next to me. Dakota climbed on the bus and sat down with a big grin on her face. “What are you smiling about?” I asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My mom said if you and Ben want to, you guys can come over to hang out tonight,” she responded brightly. “She even says that you both could stay the night!” Dakota was beaming super brightly, so brightly that it was contagious. I started smiling too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We arrived at the school, both still grinning. We ran off the bus running fast so we could tell Ben. I didn’t know if he would want to come or not. I want to because I’ve never been invited to a sleepover before. Typically boys don't have sleepovers with girls. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben was standing in the same spot as yesterday. We had to walk inside of the school so we slowed down and walked over to Ben. “Ben, Dakota wants to tell you something,” I told Ben while tapping on his shoulder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben turned around and took his earbuds out, he asked “What is it?” He was smiling at me. I was still smiling from what Dakota said. So we all were smiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My mom said if you and Clara wanted to, you guys could come over tonight. You could also stay the night if you want.” Dakota and I grinned, Ben was thinking for a second. It was probably going to be a harder decision for him, because boys and girls don’t normally have sleepovers together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well why not, I can go,” he shot a quick look at me and then smirked, “as long as we call it a movie marathon.” All three of us shared one of those laughs that can't stop. Those laughs are one of the best to share with family or friends. The smirks spread across our faces.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We had another nice day, but now with the anticipation of the ‘Movie Marathon’. I couldn’t pay attention during my last class. Too much excitement can lessen my attention span. The bell rang, as it was time to go back to my homeroom for study hall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I walked to my desk. Ben wasn’t there because he was in the school band on Fridays. Yearning for the bell to ring again, I finished all of my homework, so I wouldn’t have any over the weekend. I started to go through a list of things I would need to bring.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Ring, ring,</span>
  </em>
  <span> My wish of leaving had been granted. I grabbed my bag and walked down the hall as fast as I was allowed. Rushing onto the bus, so fast I almost ran into someone. I slowed down so I could sit in a seat. Dakota stepped on the bus fast too, she didn’t almost run into someone, as I almost did. I laughed as she sat down. The bus began to accelerate down the road. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dakota and I talked till we arrived back at my stop. “See you at four!” I ended with a smile and a wave and hopped off. Rushed back to my house to start packing for the sleepover. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I walked in the door, and yelled “Dad? Can I have a movie marathon/sleepover at my new friend Dakota’s house?” I threw down my backpack and ran into my parent’s room. I pulled out the puppy dog eyes, “Please?” with my hands together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure, I’ll take you,” My dad answered knowing it wouldn’t stop if he didn’t say yes. Which was true. I left to go to my room and pack. </span>
</p>
<p><em><span>Toothbrush, check… PJs, check… Clothes for tomorrow, check…</span></em> <em><span>I think I have everything. I can’t believe this is my first ever sleepover! </span></em><span>I was a little nervous. I told my dad we needed to leave so I could be there on time. </span></p>
<p>
  <span>It took us about five minutes to arrive at Dakota’s house. My nerves rising from the excitement and from just being plain scared. The building was a nice, tall, brick house with Dakota standing by the door waving.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>I climbed out of the car with a grin on my face. </span>
  <em>
    <span>My first ever sleepover. I can’t believe it.</span>
  </em>
  <span> I opened the trunk of the car and grabbed all of my stuff. I waddled over to the front door, waving at my dad. He waved back and started driving away. “I’m super delighted that I could come over tonight,” I beamed at Dakota, as she opened the door for me.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“After you sir,” she laughed as I kept waddling, “I can help you carry some of your things, you can just put your stuff in the living room.” She pointed out where the living room was and we dropped my stuff on the floor. “What do you want to do while we wait for Ben?” she asked, thinking I would have the answer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I shrugged and turned to look out the window to the backyard.  It looked so magical with the leaves falling from the woods behind it. “You have a nice backyard,” I told her in awe. Something glittering flew past the window. “Did you see that?” I asked Dakota with a little anticipation. She shook her head as there was a knock on the front door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We walked to the door, as I was taking in the nice house. There was another knock. We opened the door and there stood Ben. “Hey, who’s ready for this party to be started?” he laughed as he walked in the door. He put his stuff down by mine and stood next to me. “So, what are we going to do?” he asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I looked out the back window,” I started towards the big, charming window, “and your backyard is so charming. I think we should go outside.” Ben and Dakota nodded in agreement. I pulled on my green sweatshirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dakota pulled on her shoes, but Ben and I already had ours on from getting here. “We could go on a hike back there,” Dakota suggested, “It’s not a trail, but I’d like to explore it with you guys.” Ben looked really excited about her saying that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It will be like an adventure!” he exclaimed. Dakota grabbed a bag we could hold our phones and snacks in. We stepped outside of the house, on the deck, and walked down the stairs. “Wow, it looks so cool,” Ben had the same reaction as me seeing the yard. The glittering thing sped past me again. I didn’t think anything of it this time because no one else said anything about it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We walked into the woods. Taking in all of it’s glorious sights. The leaves falling peacefully gave you a sense of happiness and relaxation that you can only have on nice days like these. The different fall colors on the tall trees with lots of branches reaching in every direction possible. The sun was almost setting, so the sky was the same colors as the leaves turning on the trees. It was almost too much beauty to take in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s go this way,” Dakota suggested, “It looks like more fun to explore.” We agreed and walked in that direction. The sky only obtained more radiance as we went on. The leaves were crunchy on the ground like the crunch of a fresh bag of chips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did we pack any chips?” I asked. They laughed and Dakota grabbed a bag for me. “Yum,” I reacted. Opening it sounded like the crunch of the leaves beneath  my boots. Something sped across the leaves. “What was that?” I freaked out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There are some chipmunks out here,” Dakota answered. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I really shouldn’t jump to any conclusions. It doesn’t seem like anything bad could be out here in these beautiful woods. Little critters can’t do anything,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>I told myself, I was wrong about both of those things.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Right at that point, I believed Dakota and we carried on. We walked in that direction for fifteen minutes and decided we should go in a different direction. We told Ben to close his eyes and spin around pointing. Ben did as we said and pointed in a direction. “Alrighty then,” I started, “we will go this way.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The leaves on the ground had started blowing the way Ben was pointing, like a path. It was quite weird. The leaves fluttered back down to the ground. We started walking again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What time is it?” Ben asked Dakota, it had been about five minutes since the cool leaves thing, “We need to decide if we should go back soon.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dakota pulled her phone out of the bag and looked at the glowing screen. “It’s half past six,” responding to Ben’s question. She looked up at the sky, and looked back down, only making her want to look back up again, this time she pointed to something. “Can you see that?” she asked, “It’s like a glittering bird.” She had a look of confusion that made me want to look up at the sky more. I looked up in the spot Dakota was pointing to and remembered, when I saw something glittering, no one else saw it too.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t see anything,” Ben stated, “But there are some pretty trees around here.” I nodded in agreement. Ben looked back up at the sky that was slowly turning a magical shade of blue. “It looks like we should start heading back if we want to eat dinner anytime soon,” My stomach told me Ben was right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I smirked, “I could eat.” We all three laughed and Dakota had pulled out her phone, so we started in the direction she told us to go in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is the fastest way to my house, according to my phone,” We walked through more crunchy leaves as we walked that way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben started to wave his foot around. “Hey guys...there’s a shiny reptile on my foot.” Ben freaked out. He started to run in circles frantically.</span>
</p>
<p><span>My eyes widened, </span><em><span>Something weird is going on here.</span></em> <em><span>It can’t be a coincidence that all three of us saw something the other two couldn’t see.</span></em><span> Ben ran in a different direction, still freaking out about the magical reptile on his foot. Dakota and I didn’t want Ben to be lost, so we followed him. My adrenaline was running faster than I could. Dakota wasn’t as good of a runner as I was. “Ben, can you slow down?” I yelled across the forest of tall trees. He slowed down at my voice, and yelled something back. I couldn’t hear him. I stopped and waited for Dakota to catch up. It didn’t take her long though, because I was already slowing down before. “I can’t hear Ben,” I pointed over where Ben was standing in the shadows of the forest. Ben looked like he was yelling, but we couldn’t hear him.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe we are too far away?” Dakota questioned. I shrugged and we ran over closer to Ben. We still couldn’t hear him. Ben looked a little more calm as we walked over to where he was. Ben was standing right inside this cave thing. I gave Ben a confused look, and he mouthed something.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben rolled his eyes and stepped out of the cave. “I think I found something cool,” he told us a little louder than he had anticipated. He grabbed both of our hands and led us into the cave. As soon as we had stepped in the entrance the inside of the cave looked extremely different from the outside. On the outside looking in you could have thought it to be a normal dark, gloomy cave. On the inside, it was sparkling with gold and silver tones. The cave was one of the most beautiful things we all had ever seen. In this cave we saw three sparkling animals that we all listed from before. One bird, one reptile, and well I never knew what mine was but I assumed it was the chipmunk. They were all sitting there really calmly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are they doing?” Dakota asked, looking at the three animals sitting in a line. The bird toddled over to Dakota. The bird put its wing on Dakota’s leg and her eyes widened to the size of golf balls, “It’s… It’s speaking to me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it saying to you?” Ben questioned Dakota about her latest statement. Then, the reptile scattered over and touched Ben’s foot again. “I heard you say that before,” Ben realized what he just said and gasped. His eyes shot open wide and he yelled, “Are you our spirit animals?”  he looked over back at me and his face turned a little pink. The bird and the reptile went back to where the chipmunk was sitting and turned around, with almost little smirks on their faces.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“We are your spirit animals,” the bird started talking out loud in it’s soothing song. My eyes and mouth opened really wide, as I had never thought once that an animal would talk to me. I looked around at the others to see they had the same reaction as me. I opened my mouth to ask a question. “Not everyone can see their spirit animals, just a few people in the world can. The people who can, have the potential to have powers, or as humans like to call them, ‘superpowers,’” The bird had answered my question and more without me asking it. My mind had officially been blown at that point. My eyes were looking around the cave to see what was there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The chipmunk asked the bird, “When do we tell them which powers they have?” My face had lit up, the other two grinned softy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was getting to that part,” the bird complained to the chipmunk. “Well, as you can tell from the interruption, you three have that power to wield, well, powers,” The birds face still looking at the chipmunk with annoyance, “Would you like to hear what they are?” The three of us nodded furiously, with huge grins on our faces, at the animals. My body couldn’t take this much excitement. I was striving for the information they were going to give us. “Each of us will tell you what your power is,” the bird glittered in the shiny light of the cave. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ben,” the reptile had a scratchy voice, “you have the power of invisibility.” Ben’s face was kind of a little scrunched, like he was confused, but then he smiled warily at the Reptile. “You can activate it by going over there and touching the white stone of invisibility.” I didn’t realize when I looked around, but there were billions of different colored stones around the cave. Each one had a fascinating feeling of elegance and beauty. It all acted like a dream, not like the one I had a couple days ago. This felt like something good, that was supposed to be happy and bright.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben walked over, “I’m just going to wait for the others.” He looked at Dakota and I with a small grin and waited patiently. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dakota,” the bird started again, “you have the power of shape shifting into any animal you want.” Dakota looked surprised, then she looked excited to be able to have a superpower that was super cool. “You should go touch the purple stone of transformation over there,” the bird waved a wing over to one of the stones. Dakota moved over to the stone and stood by it, waiting for me to know what my power is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s my power?” I asked with anticipation. My eyes had been glowing with excitement. The chipmunk looked at me with a smile, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I think it’s a smile,</span>
  </em>
  <span> I thought grinning back anyways.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The chipmunk had scurried next to me, tilting its head up to stare into my eyes. “You have the power of super speed,” the chipmunk squealed with happiness, “You should go touch that glowing green stone,” I turned around slowly and noticed the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. The green stone had been as radiant as can be possible. It was glowing with the most pretty color of forest green. I lured me in, the stone taking control of my mind. It was almost telling me to touch it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You guys ready?” I had asked in pure excitement. Ben and Dakota nodded with determination. I leaned into the green stone. “Three, two, one,” my hand draped over the stone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The excitement buzzing in me swiftly turned into the buzzing in my hand from the stone. The colors of purple, white, and green flashed around the room. There was a loud bang, that looked like something had gone wrong. The spirit animals had extremely worried faces and started running out of the cave. I couldn’t take my hand off the stone, it was like super glue. Either my head was spinning or the cave had been turning rapidly, either way my head was pounding with excruciating agony. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I opened my eyes and I had been by a tree in the forest. Right by the place where the mysterious leaves were blown in a path where Ben had pointed. My headache was gone, which was a good sign. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe it was all a dream </span>
  </em>
  <span>I told myself over and over. In reality it didn’t seem like something that would happen. I felt a light weight on my legs. I looked down to see a little kitten dozing away. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Aww, it’s so cute,</span>
  </em>
  <span> I thought with a little pout on my lip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I didn’t see Dakota or Ben anywhere. My face turned from relaxed to stressed in one second flat. “Dakota! Ben!” I yelled, waking up the kitten on my legs, “oh, I’m sorry little kitty. I was just looking for my friends.” I looked at the kitten’s little, confused face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s me, Dakota,” the kitten looked up at my face. I yelped, standing up quickly. I stepped away from the kitten and ran into a tree. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ouch,” I rubbed the back of my head, “is it really you Dakota?” I looked down at her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The little kitten paws barely made a crunching sound as she walked over the leaves to me. “Yes?” she replied in an uncertain tone, “I think so.” I heard some more crunching behind me.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who’s there?” I yelled at the random crunching, grabbing Dakota into my arms to protect her, “I can and will hurt you.” That was somewhat of a lie, but if Dakota really could change into animals, she probably had super speed. The crunching from the unknown had continued. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Clara,” it had sounded like Ben, “who are you talking to?” Dakota looked at me while still in my arms. “Clara, what are you talking about, you don’t know how to hurt anyone,” blush had made its way to my embarrassed face at Ben’s remark even though I couldn’t see him. The ground in front of me was slightly pressed down while leaves were crunching. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I looked around with a scared look on my face, “Where are you Ben?” Ben laughed at the words spoken, but then realized I really didn’t know where he was. All of the sudden, Ben appeared right in ahead of me, looking straight into my eyes. I gasped and he took a big step backwards.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who is this little angel?” he wondered as Dakota moved around in my arms. Ben put his hand out and pet the kitten.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, that’s Dakota,” making my point when Ben gasped, “she actually can turn into animals.” I looked over to Ben, “I think you can turn invisible.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dakota jumped out of my arms and turned back into herself. “It’s definitely gotten late, and I’m hungry,” Dakota stated, Ben and I nodded our heads agreeing with her choice to go back. It has been a crazy day so far.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter Seven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>We slowly walked through the leaves towards Dakota’s house. The sun had almost sunk to the bottom of the sky, making most of the sky a midnight blue color. The stars looked like little speckles across the sky. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>My friends and I arrived at the house. We walked in the back door and smelled something delicious. “Hello,” a lady standing in the kitchen lit up, “You two must be Dakota’s new friends. I’m her mother, and you can just call me Mrs Johnson.” Ben and I introduced ourselves and asked Mrs Johnson what she was making. “I’m making some cheeseburger macaroni. It tastes like a burger but is on macaroni noodles. It should be done in fifteen minutes,” she answered the question, and the ones that were sure to follow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe while we wait, I could give you guys a tour of the house,” Dakota suggested. Ben and I agreed, and Dakota showed us around the house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We walked into Dakota’s room, and it had superhero posters and pictures plastered all over the walls. You almost couldn’t see the room’s paint color. We sat down on assorted chairs in her room to talk about what happened in the woods a little while ago. “We have superpowers,” I started the conversation. Ben hummed in agreement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t believe it,” Dakota picked up the conversation. Her hands up by her face, on her cheeks. We sat in a little bit of silence before she continued, “We haven’t really seen your superpower, Clara.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That is true,” I respond, “but I didn’t really have the time to test it out.” I looked down at my knees. I thought back to before school on Thursday. I’m so happy I gained a new friend. “Time me,” I told my friends, “I’m going to run all the way to the furthest corner in the basement, and back up here in your room.” Ben grabbed out his phone, went to the clock app, and pulled up a timer. I stood up ready to run.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben had his finger ready. “Three, two,” it seemed as his words slowed,”one...” The last number felt like sloth. Ben pressed the button down slowly. I felt an electrifying feeling in my nerves, it felt like billions of little shocks and reactions. The feeling spread goosebumps over my body. I started to run, everything around me was going slower than usual. There was a loud clock in the hallway, that took more time to make the ticking sound that the hands make while moving. I didn’t seem to care, so I just ran to the basement’s far corner and back to the room. When I reached the room again, I saw Ben’s face in total shock. I tried to stop running, but I couldn’t my face slowly hit the wall. The pain spread through my body from my forehead to my legs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Owch,” I whispered, “that hurt.”  Ben and Dakota rushed over to give me a hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You took five seconds!” Ben yelled at my face, clearly louder than he expected, because he slapped his hand over his mouth. I beamed and threw my hands in the air. Dakota stood there with a smirk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I bet I could have been faster if I wasn’t distracted by how fast I was going,” a giant grin spread across my face. Something felt uncomfortable around my neck. I sat up and saw a necklace was the thing that was sitting weird on my neck. I turned around the necklace and it was a beautiful green stone like the one in the cave, that had a little metal cage around it. The strap holding it around my neck was made of soft leather. I gasped, realizing that I have seen a necklace just like this around someone else’s neck. “Guys, I don’t remember ever having this necklace,” I looked at my friends with confusion, “I saw a missing person on the news wearing one just like this but red.” Ben nodded at me with a determined face, but Dakota just stopped smiling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have something like that too,” Ben showed us his wrist, “except it’s a bracelet.” Dakota looked at herself in the mirror and there was a necklace under her sweatshirt as well. “That is so weird.” Ben pointed out. I murmured, agreeing with him. We didn’t think anything of it and sat on the assortment of chairs to wait for dinner. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A minute or two passed, and there was a knock at the door. Mrs Johnson called up the stairs, “Dakota, could you kids grab the door? I am almost done with this.” We all three went downstairs to see who it was. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a weird feeling in my bones, like someone was watching, but they were in a house. I didn’t make any sense. There was a knock on the door again. “I can see who it is Mom!” Dakota opened the door. There was a girl who looked to be our age, standing there with a frightened expression. She was wearing a necklace with a gem like ours. It was red, with the leather straps.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked at my necklace, then into my eyes, “I need your guy’s help.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter Eight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She stood there in the doorway. Looking in our eyes while hers still contained a sharp look of fear. She looked behind her swiftly, only to look back at us just as fast. Her look of fear made us anxious. “Um, come in, I guess,” Dakota invited her in but stopped her a second after, “First, what is your name?” Dakota asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My name is Stephanie, but you can call me Steph,” Dakota nodded at her, and we moved out of the doorway. We walked up to Dakota’s room. “Like I said before,” she looked back at us, “I need your help.” Stephanie had tanned skin, dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and green eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you need our help for?” Ben asked, taking note of the piece of jewelry around her neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Stephanie noticed and pulled it off over her head, after calming down a little. “This is a stone shard, it is from the magic stones that gave you guys your abilities,” she explained, our eyes went wide in confusion, “I only know this because it happened to me as well.” Even when she explained that, our eyes were still opened wide. Somehow, the feeling I felt right before we opened the door, made sense. Stephanie had a ‘magic shard’ thing just like us. “The shards are not working like they are supposed to,” she continued, “and I need your guys’ help to figure out why.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you wake up in the middle of the woods after touching the stone?” Dakota asked. I had been wondering that too. With the loud noise after we touched the stones, and the spirit animals running off, something seemed off to me. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No? What happened?” Stephanie wondered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There was a loud sound, like an explosion somewhere. The spirit animals were scared, and they ran off. The next thing we know we are back out in the woods,” I decided I would sum it up fast. I shifted in my chair trying to sit comfortably. I knew the next part of the conversation was going to be more complicated. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh no,” Stephanie reacted, “we need to check on them.” The three of us nodded at her. “Don’t tell anyone where we are going.” We completely understood the concept of a secret identity, but it was extremely exhilarating to have one. I stared up at the ceiling fan watching it spin around over and over. I looked at the walls plastered with superheroes again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We need to save the day,” Ben told everyone sitting down, “er… Night.” We giggled before we remembered it was no laughing matter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We asked Stephanie a few more questions before deciding it would be best if we left a little later, after dinner. I had a bad feeling about going so late, but it was the best time to go unnoticed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The original three of us were called down for dinner, we left Stephanie in Dakota’s room, and we rushed downstairs. We didn’t want to waste any precious time. Scarfing down food, Mrs Johnson noticed and spoke up, “You guys are in a hurry to finish your food.” We looked at each other and nodded. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We just really want to start watching the movies,” Dakota mumbled as she shoved some more noodles into her mouth. We all three cleared our plates and Dakota grabbed more snacks. “They are for the movie,” she looked over to her mom. Mrs Johnson smiled softly and waved us off, telling us goodnight, because she probably wasn’t going to see them until the morning. We grinned back at her and rushed back upstairs. Bringing all of our bags from before, so it isn’t as suspicious when we aren’t using any of it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Here,” Dakota passed Stephanie a bag of chips. Stephanie nodded as we started packing bags with things we will need when looking for the spirit animals. We grabbed flashlights, snacks, our stone shards, and our phones.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few minutes later, after packing everything we think needed. We turned on a movie to pretend like we were going to be in the room still. “I think we are ready to go,” Stephanie nodded, and we snuck down the stairs, cringing at every creak we made. After we realized Dakota’s mom was in her room, we walked a little faster.  We slid open the back door, and stepped outside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We pulled out our flashlights so we could see in the dark. We each had a flashlight shining into the trees. We started to walk in the original direction we went, tring to retrace our steps to the cave from earlier. The leaves were as crunchy as they were a little bit ago. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything looks so much more different at night,” Dakota pointed out. She was right, just looking around, nothing looked the same even though we were not even that far in the woods. All of us silently agreed and carried on walking further into the woods.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We walked in silence for a couple of minutes only to stop for a second and figure out where we were going. I spoke up, “I don’t think we know where we are going.” We looked around where we were standing and it didn’t look any different from any other part of the woods. The trees seemed to just all be the same. “Why don’t we split into pairs and go in opposite directions? Once we find something interesting, we text the other two so they know where to go.” I asked everyone, knowing that if we all split up by ourselves there would for sure be something bad happen to one of us. So instead, I suggested we should pair off. The others nodded, “I will go with Steph,” I started pairing, “that leaves you two to be with each other.” I pointed to Dakota and Ben. They looked at me and nodded. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We better start heading out then,” Ben suggested, and turned to the right with Dakota, as Stephanie and I turned to the left.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter Nine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>We walked forward without talking for a bit but I interrupted the silence, “Stephanie?” she turned her head and looked at me, “I think I saw you on the news two days ago.” Stephanie nodded at my accusation. Her eyes flitted around looking for something. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyes stopped to look at me again. She opened her mouth but nothing came out, she closed it again. I stopped walking to look at Stephanie as she tried to give me an explanation. “I received my powers three days ago,” I nodded, still standing in place, “I didn’t really know what happened. I think someone followed me into the woods, so I started to run. I found the cave with the spirit animals in it, and they tried to explain everything to me...” There was a ding from my phone in my back pocket. I pulled it out and checked the message.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>I think we found something, come look!’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>It was a text from Ben. There was another message with their location, Stephanie and I turned around to go find them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s your power then,” I asked as we started jogging towards the location. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s umm… Telekinesis,” she answered, I nodded, “I can move things with my mind.” I hummed in agreement. I had already known what telekinesis was, because I was a geek when it came to super powers. I didn't want to say anything. The crunching under my feet was familiar. Running in the forest was something I hadn't thought I would be doing today. “What’s your power,” Stephanie asked curiously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>My face lightened, “Speed.” She nodded at my answer. ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Perfect timing’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>I told myself looking ahead at Ben and Dakota, “What did you guys find?” I slowed my jog back to a walk in sync with Stephanie. The two looked over at us. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ben and Dakota were taking pictures of something that had just come into view. “I think these are our stones again,” Dakota spoke and turned back to the collection of objects. Sure enough some bright shining stones came into view. They were all floating a couple inches above the ground. The stones were glowing like they did when we touched them earlier. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Woah,” Stephanie and I reacted at the same time. We laughed at each other, but not for too long before the stones rose a little higher above the ground, and started to spin in slow circles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you think it’s doing?” Ben turned around to look at us again. I gazed curiously at the glowing stones. I spotted a little note on a nearby tree. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Walking slowly, I squatted down to grab the note. It had fancy glowing writing on it. “Over here guys, I found a note,” I spoke, bringing the other three out of a trance. They walked moderately fast over to me. “It’s a note.” I waved the paper around, they looked at it with questionable gazes. Ben waved his hand in small circles, as if he was asking me to elaborate.  “It says here: </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Hello there Ben, Dakota, Clara, and Stephanie. I knew you guys would end up working together. I know you four must be worried about us, but we are just fine. We are looking for a new location for the cave. Someone found the cave and now we are in hiding. We need to ask you four a favour. If you could bring your stones correlating with your powers to the location on the back of this note, that would be great,’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>signed,</span>
  <em>
    <span> ‘Hawk, Geko, Chipmunk, and Bobcat,’</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your spirit animal is a Bobcat?” Ben asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Stephanie nodded, “Yeah, I know. Cool right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah really cool. But...back to the spirit animals,” Dakota grabbed the paper and turned it over. Sure enough, there was a shining address on the back in the same handwriting as before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They didn’t sound rushed,” Ben suggested, “we could probably take them and head back to the house.” The other three of us nodded, agreeing with Ben. “Where is it?” I took out my phone to tap in the address in my G.P.S.. Looking back and forth between the paper and my phone, I found the address. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s only two blocks away,” I pointed to the tagged location on my phone, “If we go fast enough, we’ll be able to make it back before anyone could notice.” I started the G.P.S. up and it showed us the right direction. We picked up our stones and slid them into our bags and started towards the address.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As we walked, we talked about everything and nothing. Everything from superheroes and superpowers to what the name of the tip of a shoelace is. Ben said it was called an aglet. While we talked we found ourselves standing in front of a big tree with multiple sparkling animals surrounding it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you. You four truly are our superheroes,” the chipmunk spoke to me. We pulled out our stones from our bags and handed them gently to the animals with smiles on our faces. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was no problem at all,” Stephanie beamed softly at the animals.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We should be heading back, but we will visit soon,” Dakota waved her hand goodbye, I hummed in agreement. We waved as we walked away, heading back to Dakota’s house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We continued talking about our powers and what we would use them for. “I think, instead of hiding, we should actually save our city,” I suggested, “we could be real superheroes.” The others nodded at my statement, and we walked into the night. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once we arrived at Dakota’s house again, we said our goodbyes to Stephanie. “Hopefully we can hang out sometime and think of superhero names and costumes,” she replied to our goodbye. We all scrunched in for a big group hug. She gave us her phone number and walked away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We went back in the house through the back door, cozied up in piles of blankets, and watched a few Marvel movies, until we fell asleep.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter Ten</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It is a year later. Their superhero personas have been established and they are now working to fight crime on the regular.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I can’t believe your gang name is <em> Phantom Pigeons </em>,” I chuckle loudly at the people trying to shoot me with a gun, “What are you going to do? Poop on us?”</p><p>“Hey!” one of the men yell back at me, “That’s not very nice.” </p><p>“You’re telling <em> me </em> I’m not nice?” I laugh at the man again, “You are the people trying to sell illegal weapons!” I speed over to the female wearing a black domino mask, Aster, taking out some goons on the other side of the room. “This guy over there is telling me I’m not very nice,” I say in a sarcastically melancholy tone, “what should I do about him?” </p><p>I try not to laugh as she crashes the goon that spoke to me into another goon standing next to him. “There. You happy?” she smirks at me. </p><p>“Very,” I beam back at her. I can’t believe how much she’s progressed in the year since we’ve gotten our powers. Back then, she could barely lift a basketball; now, she’s throwing around two-hundred-fifty pound men like it’s no big deal. </p><p>I run over to the gorilla punching a bunch of goons and take a couple of them out. The gorilla transformed into a rhino, charging into some more guys. She has progressed a lot this year too. I can barely remember when she could only transform into little animals. I am so proud of her. </p><p>“Have either of you guys seen G?” I yell across the warehouse. </p><p>“I’m here. Sorry I’m late,” a disembodied voice spoke up, “I almost didn’t catch the bus over here.” I laugh at the thought of him being here but me not seeing him. He is invisible of course, but he didn’t even say anything as he arrived here. </p><p>“I didn’t need to take the bus,” I yell again, holding in my amusement. I hear a mocking tone repeating what I just said. I spot some goons being knocked to the ground in the same direction as the voice. There are only a few people left that are not on our side. “Let me get the last ones, guys,” I request as the other three groan, “Fine, we can all get them.” We all run up to the remaining criminals who are trying to escape.</p><p>“Not so fast,” Aster yells across the room. Gecko reappears and Menagerie transforms back into her human form. We all run to stand in a line, striking heroic poses. “You aren’t going anywhere.” We all smirk at the criminals as they put their hands up in the air, surrendering. The police sirens are going off in the background. I grab a rope out of my utility belt, speed over to the goons, and tie their hands behind their backs in a blink of an eye. </p><p>A police woman walks up to me, “What happened here, Crash?” I almost roll my eyes at the name. I can’t believe that name stuck. I think back to when we first picked out our superhero aliases: </p><p><em> “So now that we are going to be superheroes, we should probably </em> pick out cool names,” <em> Ben suggested, “I was thinking about calling myself Gecko.” Dakota looked at each of us with confusion.   </em></p><p>
  <em> “Ben, you know that geckos aren’t the ones that ‘disappear’ right?” Dakota asked. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “What are you talking about?” Ben pulled out his phone and typed in some letters in the search engine. “See?” he showed her something. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Never mind,” she corrected herself, “You can be Gecko.” Ben beamed. We sat there thinking about what our names could be. “Do you guys have any idea what my alias should be?” Dakota asked. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I almost jumped when I thought of the perfect name, “What about Menagerie?” I suggested, “It means a collection of wild animals. You are like your own collection of animals.” Ben and Stephanie nodded. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “That’s perfect!” Dakota exclaimed, bubbling with excitement.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Let me run downstairs and grab a piece of paper to write down our ideas,” I ran out before I could hear their noises of approval. Racing down the stairs, I grabbed a few pieces of paper and some pencils. I sped back up the stairs after I grabbed them. I hadn’t yet figured out how to control my speed, so when I reentered the room, I accidentally ran into a wall. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Stephanie laughed as she looked down at me sprawled on the floor. “I have the perfect name for Clara.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “What is it?” I asked with a worried grimace. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Crash, because you keep crashing into things,” Stephanie laughed, not a sign of sarcasm in sight. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Seriously Steph?” I chuckled. “The name will never stick.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “We’ll see,” Stephanie smirked.  </em>
</p><p><em> I tried to think of a witty response. “Well, your name should be Aster, because your power is a dis </em> aster <em> waiting to happen.”  </em></p><p>
  <em> Stephanie frowned, but she was not able to hold it for too long before she giggled. “If you go by Crash, I’ll go by Aster.” She stuck out her hand to shake. I grabbed it and shook firmly, sealing the deal. “Plus, aster is my favorite flower.” The four of us couldn’t stop laughing. </em>
</p><p>I finish up talking to the police, say goodbye to my teammates, and head home. This year may have been a crazy one, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I will hopefully be continuing this story on another work. You can ask questions if you want. It will be a lot more like this chapter. Hope you enjoyed the origin story.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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